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A tiny bird stole the spotlight at a rally for United States presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders Friday.

The senator was in the middle of a speech when the bird flew onto the stage. He commented on the incident when the bird flew onto the podium right in front of him – to thunderous applause from the audience in Portland.

“I know it doesn’t look like it, but that bird is really a dove asking us for world peace. No more wars,” he said after it flew away.

Sanders took the interruption in stride and laughed with the audience.

There was a Twitter-storm over the bird’s appearance – the hashtag #BirdieSanders shot straight up the website’s trending list late Friday night.

Sanders was campaigning ahead of Saturday’s Democratic primaries in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.